Hamilton County Veterans Corp Meeting Minutes
Nov 4th, 2024, 7pm Fishers American Legion Post 470, 9091 E 126th St
- Pledge of Allegiance / Silent Prayer
- Welcome Guests & New Members – Guest Monica Kozlowski (Sen. Todd Young)
- Introductions of everyone – Ron Wilson, Bill Doss, Cliff Morlan, Ray Sohl, JC Woodring, Mark Fiddler, Cindy Sweet
- Sick Call – Lynn is helping her mom
- ZOOM Connection for this meeting https://iu.zoom.us/j/83587167577
Old Business
- HCVC Financials – We will be getting grants from Duke Energy in November and Hamilton County by January. – Ron, Bill
- National Guard / Army Reserve and Financial update – Mark Fiddler
- Coffee with a Veteran the last Saturday of the month at School House 7 Café is gaining members! 12125 Cyntheanne Rd, Fishers from 8-9am. Nov 30th Vets get free breakfast and coffee. The HCVC will look at sponsoring a Coffee with a Vet next year – Cliff Morlan
- MASH Ministries PTSI workshops now has morning and evening sessions. Mondays – 7-8pm at the Noblesville American Legion 273 S 8th St and on Fridays 9-10am at the Life Church Coffee House 2166 Sheridan Rd Noblesville. If you know of any Veterans who would like to attend, call Paul Phelps 317-488-1666 https://www.mashministries.org/ – Ron
- On Oct 5th the HCVC hosted a Hamilton County Veterans Service Organization Coalition Breakfast / Meeting to introduce several of our resource partners to the Posts and our federal, state and county officials, and it was a partial success. We had 3 of our Posts, Carmel & Fishers Legions and the Carmel VFW. It sparked many discussions and has opened the door for more eager discussions to tear down walls and work together for our future Veteran community. Those present agreed we need to do this again, and again, so we setup November 16th 930am at the Carmel American Legion for the next meeting. At this meeting we are again inviting 2 representatives from each Post, several of our resources, city, county, state and federal elected officials and the media. We will be showcasing, “HamCoIn Resource Connect”, a powerful platform custom built by veterans for veterans, aimed at revolutionizing how veterans, support organizations, and veteran families connect to the right resources, support, and services at the right time. – Bill
- We asked our Posts to run a fundraiser for Nancy Chance at GSN but then HVAF had their devastating fire so the Posts are helping them and the HCVC donated $1,000.00 last week. At all our events we posted flyers on where to donate to GSN and how to donate goods to their warehouse. – Bill
- The Stronger Veterans Stronger Communities Coalition to prevent Veteran suicides has been granted $164K from the IDVA Governor’s Challenge for the 2024-2025 year to implement our plan to reach into our community and introduce the resources to those who are not connected and save lives. We have already attended over 24 events since June and will be setting up a marketing strategy to take us to the next level to reach our Veterans who are not connected. – Bill
- We are still planning our 2025 resource fairs, one in June with Nancy Chance at GSN and one in October focused on our MVC. Commissioner Mark Heirbrandt is working to get us space at the HC Fairgrounds for FREE. The GSN Date will be June 6 and we have yet to get a Saturday in Oct. If the new refurb isn’t done in time we might get space at the new Fishers or Noblesville event centers or Mayor Scott Willis said he can get us a spot in Westfield. – Bill
- Oct 23-24 HCVC Had a table at the MFRI Battlemind to Home Summit at the Embassy Suits and there were over 300 guests and many resources we networked with. – Bill
New Business
- The HCVC is looking to host a Women Veterans Luncheon in Mar or Apr 2025. Lynn will be driving this with the help from Lisa and we will be bringing in others to help. We need to look at our Ham Cty Posts including their Auxiliary Members to get help. – Ron
- We still need new members in the HCVC who want to work with us to move into the future helping our MVC? – All
- We have opened the door for family members of Active Military or Veterans to join the HCVC and we have dropped our $25 annual dues – everyone continue asking friends and neighbors to help us care for our Military Veteran community.
- Hero Hut will be at the Fishers Event Center Dec 7th for the Indy Fuel game and the HCVC can have a table so we can talk about who we are and what we do to those who stop by our booth,,,, and gain more members. David from Hero Hut will have about 200 tickets we can give to Veterans and we will have room indoors and outside. More to come soon. – Bill
- Does anyone know of other events we should be at? If yes, tell Bill….
- Mad Ants, a G League team of the Pacers is coming to Noblesville and we will be working with them to see how we can Honor our MVC and introduce the Mad Ants to Hamilton County. They will be playing Nov-Mar this winter at the Fieldhouse in Indy, We may be able to get some tickets as we help introduce the Mad Ants to Hamilton County – Bill
- We will be hosting QPR & VA SAVE suicide prevention training and CPR training at all our Posts. Jim Ginder will be doing one at Post 155 in Dec – Bill
- We will work with Roudebush VA Benefits, our CVSOs and each Posts Service Officer to setup claims days at every Post starting next year – Bill
- Indiana Veterans Legislative Day at the Statehouse happens January 14, 2025 and the HCVC will be donating $100 for the breakfast and will have a table there to greet our Veteran community – Ron
- If you know of any Hamilton County activities or events that involve our MVC, let me know so I can add it to our Hamilton County Veteran Community page in the Reporter. Getting any help from our Posts other than Fishers and Carmel has been non-existent. – Bill
If you know of a Vietnam War, Korean War or WWII Veteran who has not been on the Indy Honor Flight, get them to sign up. If you have never been as a guardian, sign up and go as it will be the best $500 you will ever spend. Go here and sign up https://www.indyhonorflight.org/ – Bill